Jean Starr Untermeyer
by George J. Dance Jean Starr Untermeyer (May 13, 1886 - July 27, 1970) was an American poet. Life Jean Starr was born in Zanesville, Ohio, the oldest of 3 children, to Johnanna (Schonfeld) and Abram Starr. She attended Kohut Preparatory School and Columbia University in New York. She married Louis Untermeyer in New York on January 23, 1907, bearing him a son, Richard, 11 months later. Untermeyer envisioned a career as a lieder singer, but began writing poetry after being inspired by hearing Edna St. Vincent Millay read. Louis discovered her poems and began submitting them to literary magazines. He also pressed for the publication of her first 2 books. In 1924 the family travelled to Europe, where Jean Untermeyer made her debut as a singer in London and Vienna. The reception was disappointing. The Untermeyers returned to the United States at the end of 1924, enrolled their son at Yale University, and moved to the McCowell Art Colony in 1925. The following year Louis Untermeyer obtained a Mexican divorce, and remarried a young woman he had met at McDowell. The couple's son Richard hanged himself in his room at Yale in 1927. When his 2nd marriage broke up, Louis and Jean Untermeyer reconciled in 1929 and adopted 2 boys. However, the reconciliation failed; Untermeyer took custody of the boys, and obtained a second Mexican divorce in 1930. After a court ruled that the 2 were still married, Jean agreed to a Nevada divorce in 1951. Jean Untermeyer continued to publish poetry and translations. She stayed at McDowell and Yaddo art colonies, and taught at Olivet College (1936–1937) and the New School for Social Research (1948–1951). She died in New York City in 1970.Jean Starr Untermeyer. Poetry Foundation, Web, Dec. 23, 2012. Writing Louis Untermeyer, Modern American Poetry: "Growing Pains (1918) is ... the result of eight years' slow and critical creation. This highly selective process did much to bring the volume up to an unusual level; a severity of taste and standards maintain the poet on her austere plane. Perfection is always a passion with her.... Acutely self-analytical, there is a stern, uncompromising relentlessness toward her introspections that keeps them from being wistful of pathetic.... Intellect is always in the ascendancy, even in the most ecstatic verses."Louis Untermeyer, 451-452. Joseph Auslander, New York Sun: "We are aware of her patterns only in that they tighten the intensity of her utterance and deepen the somber and exalted colors.... The book literally takes fire, not as a conflagration but as a holy torch." Edmund Wilson, The New Republic: "What is most remarkable about Jean Starr Untermeyer is the peculiar shading and force of her style. I believe that hers is classically Hebraic. She has always seemed to me one of the few writers who have successfully preserved in a modern language something of the authentic austerity of Jewish literature.... The strength and interest of her poetry derive from the survival in it of those fierce and austere habits of thinking and feeling."Louis Untermeyer, 453. Publications Poetry *''Growing Pains. New York: B.W. Huebsch, 1918. *Dreams out of Darkness. New York: B.W. Huebsch, 1921. *''Steep Ascent. New York: Macmillan, 1927. *''The Flowering of Lane Field''. New York: privately published, 1933. *''Wingèd Child''. New York: Viking, 1936. *''Love and Need: Collected poems, 1918–1940''. New York: Viking, 1940. *''Later Poems''. E. & J.B. Roth, 1958. * Job’s Daughter. New York: Norton, 1967. Non-fiction *''Poetry in a Prosaic World''. Boston: 1940. *''Private Collection'' (memoir). New York: Knopf, 1965. Translated *Oscar Bie, Schubert: The man. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1928. *Hermann Broch, The Death of Virgil. London: Routledge, 1946. *''Re-Creations'' (translations from French, German, and Hebrew). New York: Norton, 1970. Collected editionsr *''A Bunch of Sweet Peas: Including poetry, prizes, politics, principles, patriarchs, puns, personal preferences, and a few cues''. New York: privately published, 1949? Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Jean Starr Untermeyer, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, April 3, 2015. Audio / video *''Jean Starr Untermeyer Reading Her Poems at the City College of New York, March 28, 1941''. Sound recording. 1941. Copied for Archives of Recorded Poetry and Literature, Library of Congress, 1953. *''Jean Starr Untermeyer Reading Her Poems, with Comment, at the Pathé Sound Studios, New York, N.Y.: January 5, 1961''. Two sound cassettes. 1961. * Poetry in a Prosaic World. Presented at Boston Jewish Book Week, Boston Public Library, December 22, 1940. Microform. 1940. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia.Tillona, Francesca. "Jean Starr Untermeyer." Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia. 20 March 2009. Jewish Women's Archive, Web, Dec. 23, 2012. See also * List of U.S. poets References *"Jean Untermeyer," Modern American Poetry (edited by Louis Untermeyer). New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1930, 451-453. Print. Notes External links ;Poems * "Autumn" * Jean Starr Untermeyer 1886-1970 at the Poetry Foundation. *Untermeyer in Poetry: A magazine of verse, 1912-1922: "A Man," "Rain," "Clay Hills," "Discover Me Again," "From the Day-book of a Forgotten Prince" * Jeanne Starr Untermeyer at AllPoetry (11 poems). * Poets' Corner Index for Jean Starr Untermeyer ;Books *Jean Starr Untermeyer at Amazon.com ;About *Jean Starr Untermeyer in the Jewish Women's Archive. *Trading Comfort for Knowledge: Jean Starr Untermeyer and the Translation of “The Death of Virgil” Category:20th-century poets Category:20th-century women writers Category:American poets Category:American women writers Category:English-language poets Category:Jewish American writers Category:Jewish poets Category:Jewish women writers Category:Poets Category:Women poets